05-11-2023, 06:55 AM
(05-11-2023, 03:45 AM)Mav link Wrote:The debate over the small forwards is a bit odd. No one is claiming Owies will win a Brownlow or get into the AA team. And sure, our small forwards as a group aren’t currently the envy of other sides. But you work with what you’ve got. The last offseason saw us prioritising wingers even though I thought we needed to find a crumbing goalsneak and a quick midfielder to add pace to the midfield. But you can’t fill all the holes in one offseason.No we dont, we need to improve on what we have and what we have is an inferior C grade set up that lacks at least one A grade small forward. No one expects three champions either but at the moment if Charlie and Harry dont hit the scoreboard then it is pretty much game over for us given our small forwards and mids give us very few goals.
It used to be that the best crumbing smalls were found in the bargain basement. Eddie Betts, Stephen Milne and Tom Papley all came through the rookie draft (and remember we almost nabbed Papley in the manoeuvrings surrounding Joe Daniher). These days, the best goalsneaks are drafted early: Rankine (pick 3), Rachele (pick 5) and Pickett (pick 12). The best small forward in the coming draft, Nick Watson, is predicted to be a top 5 pick (despite being only 168-170cm and a bit of a flog). So you can’t just go down to the corner milk bar and buy a genuine goal kicking small anymore (to use a Paganism).
So we have to make do with what we have for the foreseeable future. Playing Motlop, Durdin and Owies together enables them to complement each others’ strengths. Durdin is the fast guy who’s best at snaps. Motlop is the best footballer although not blessed with great pace. And Owies seems to be the hardest running of the lot which enables him to run deep into F50 after running up the ground. He’s also a good mark and set shot, though I don’t see him as a great snap at goals.
This is what List Managers get paid to do and if Austin cant do it then he needs to be moved on........
Geelong got Stengle for nothing because they took a calculated gamble and then resourced that area to coach and settle the kid.
We over did the wingers imo last season and should have looked at smaller forwards, the other area we lack is that mid size 188-190cm marking forward like Fritsch from Melbourne, StKilda now have one in Philipou and Geelong of course have had Rohan to compliment their two big forwards for years now.